2 Killed in Crash of Flight School’s Plane
An instructor at a Lancaster flight training school and his passenger were killed when the school’s single-engine Cessna crashed in the Tehachapi Mountains during a routine maintenance flight, officials said Sunday.
The West Coast Air Center instructor, who was not identified, was flying the school’s Cessna 152 to test a homing device that helps pilots locate small airports, said Lt. Col. Dorothy Escatena of the Civil Air Patrol. His female passenger also was unidentified.
Escatena said she did not know what caused the crash, but said she did not believe it was related to the homing device. The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the crash Sunday afternoon.
The plane took off from the Lancaster Airport about 11 a.m. Saturday. The flight was expected to last 45 minutes. Authorities began searching for the plane at dawn Sunday and found the wreckage about 2 p.m. in the Tehachapi Mountains.
West Coast Air Center is a civilian flight training school.
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